Leaving love behind
by PurpleGrl
Summary: One shot set during and after "Long way down". What if it was Eddi that had left originally instead of Luc?


**Hi everyone! As the blurb says this is a one shot is about how things would have been the other way around if Eddi had left originally instead of Luc. I have taken some lines directly from the episodes while altering others so you might recognise some parts. I have been thinking about doing this one shot even when they were both still onscreen, however I have had trouble writing it as I have wanted to stay as true as possible to Luc's character while also showing his emotional side. I have lost count of the number times I have rewritten and given up on this one shot so it might still be terrible but I hope you like it all the same.**

Luc was woken that morning by a sharp poke in the ribs from Eddi.  
"Ow!" He exclaimed rubbing his ribs as he opened his eyes.  
"Sorry didn't mean to wake you," Eddi giggled next to him moving her elbow and propping herself up on part of the pillow that Luc did not occupy. Luc rubbed his eyes and gazed at her sleepily, her usually neat pin backed hair was falling all over her face and was sticking up everywhere. Her mascara was smudged around her eyes and she had a faint stubble rash around her chin and mouth, yet to him she looked so beautiful. He wasn't ready to admit his feelings to her yet but he was really falling for her.  
"Morning," he said kissing her, cupping her face with his hands.  
"Morning," she replied, reciprocating the kiss. They kissed like that tenderly for a couple of minutes before being interrupted by a knock at the door, they both looked at the door in confusion and then back at each other.  
"Were you expecting anyone?" Eddi asked, still confused.  
"Yes I thought now would be a good time for you to meet my folks," Luc replied with his usual sarcasm as he climbed out of his bed. He opened the door to Chrissie and immediately felt embarrassed about standing there in nothing but his grey boxers.  
"Sorry did I wake you up?" she asked nosily peering into the caravan and seeing Eddi's hair peeking out of the duvet.  
"What do you want," Luc responded absent-mindedly looking past her to see if there was anyone else.  
"Just to remind you Mr. Hanssen told me to tell Eddi that she has a meeting with him at 10 O'Clock, if you see her please tell her." Chrissie explained knowing full well that Eddi was there.  
"Thanks," Luc said slamming the door.  
"Okay," he heard Chrissie smile as she looked through his window on her way back to the hospital.  
"Nosy cow," Eddi grumbled before turning over to have a quick five minute sleep.  
"Um what's your meeting with Hanssen about?" He asked.  
"My contract to Holby was only temporary as I don't like to stay in one place for too long. Hanssen's just reviewing me as a nurse and then we'll talk about if I'm staying at Holby or not and if I want to renew my contract," Eddi explained.  
"So you might be leaving," he said trying to hide the disappointment in his voice.  
"Probably not, we'll see after the meeting," she said casually.

_It was just a fling to her, that's all it was,_ Luc thought.

_Whatever their relationship was he was far more into it then she was. Normally it was the other way around as he had found it hard forming romantic attachments to women after what happened. However Eddi was different; she was funny and pretty, yet she was strong, independent and harsh with him when he was being an arse. They worked well together and she was brilliant at her job, even when she was hungover. She brought him out of his shell and if he was talking to someone right now he would probably be gushing about her. Never in his life had he gushed. So to hear her dismiss their relationship as not even a factor in her staying really brought him back down from the weird emotional bubble he was in. Luc Hemingway did not let himself get into an emotional bubble, he even found the phrase "emotional bubble" as something that only counsellors and self help authors would refer to. His past self would be disgusted with him right now yet he did not care._  
"So today may be your last day?" He asked.

"Maybe," she replied. _She didn't know how she felt about Luc, she didn't know how he felt about her and this was Luc, there would be no chance of any future with him without them killing each other with all their spats on AAU. Therefore she decided not to give him any false hope._

"What time's your shift today?" He questioned changing the subject.  
"Same time as yours I believe," she responded getting out of bed and pulling on her clothes from the previous night, and leaning in towards him with a mischievous smile. However Luc couldn't snap out of the mood he was in at the thought that she might leave so he just turned away. The voice at the back of his head was screaming:

"_What are you doing? Your not doing yourself any favours acting like this, instead you're convincing her why she should move."_ But he couldn't stop, he didn't know how to stop feeling like he was.

"Well we better shift then, we've only got fifteen minutes," he said pulling on a checked collared shirt and looking for his trousers.  
"Right ok," she mumbled, confused at his sudden coldness.

Luc slammed his caravan door for the second time that day, yet this time it was for entirely different reasons. Eddi was completely oblivious to why he was upset yet she knew something was wrong, however she sensed now was not the time to confront it and as they walked to AAU in silence the voice in the back if her head was telling her what she said to Luc the previous night.

_"It's toxic,"_ the voice kept repeating to her on loop.

As they both walked onto AAU they immediately got sucked up into the whirl of the fast arriving patients that neither had a chance to speak to each other. It didn't help that Luc was working with Chrissie for all of his patients while Eddi was working with Sasha. In fact it was when Eddi went for her meeting with Hanssen that Luc actually noticed her or rather the lack of her. When she came back from it he tried to catch her eye to find out what happened but AAU was so busy that she never noticed. When it was time for his lunch break, he immediately knew where to head to, where to clear his thoughts, where the perfect place was to try and grasp exactly what was going on between them.

At around 1 Eddi finally finished her work and asked Sasha where Luc was, He told her that Luc went on his lunch break 15 minutes ago.  
"When I went on my lunch break I saw him on the roof so that's probably the first place to look," Sasha explained.

_Of course he is on the roof, she thought. That is where Luc goes when he has something to think through, and I need to tell him about my meeting with Hanssen.  
Oohhhh her meeting with Hanssen, that was what was making him act this way._ Well she knew how to sort that out. Walking onto the roof she saw him in his usual spot, leaning against the roof. Slowly she walked up to him and joined him on the railings.  
"Hey," she said quietly.  
Luc didn't reply, instead he carried on staring downwards at the Holby car park beneath him.  
"Luc what's going on?" She asked, she knew what was wrong but she wanted to hear it from him.  
"I'm fine," he replied.  
"No you're obviously not," she said patiently.  
"I'm fine," he said again slightly raising his voice.  
"I've got all day Luc so you can man up and tell me," she said firmly.  
Finally Luc turned and looked at her, really looked at her then at last he said something:  
"Why didn't you tell me that this was your last day?" He asked, frustratedly.  
"Hanssen has offered me a permanent contract," she explained calmly while smiling at the same time. He had finally opened up to her and that was really something to her after failing so many times before on AAU.  
"And I bet you told him he could stick it," he responded, not moved at all by her previous sentence.  
"Before last night, I probably would have said no, but I woke up this morning and it was a new day," Eddi smiled.  
"What does that even mean?" Luc asked confused.  
"It means I'm going to accept," she revealed and before Luc could say anything else she leant up to kiss him. This time Luc did not refuse and wrapped her in his arms before kissing her back, everything he had pent up just seemed to float away as they kissed. He savoured the moment as he caressed her face with his fingers then moved them to the back of her neck to pull her in closer to him. After the initial brainwash he had at the beginning Luc started thinking again, _he was overjoyed at the thought that she was staying after all because of him, because of him._

_Maybe for once this relationship could work unlike every other relationship, he thought. _  
It was Eddi who broke away from the kiss even though she initiated it. "You should get back to the ward," she whispered. With one last kiss Luc headed back inside in a much better mood then he had when he went out.

Just like in the morning their paths did not cross much until around 4 in the afternoon when the line of patients started thinning out. Luc finished discharging a patient and then walked up to the nurse station where Eddi was.  
"Hi," he said sliding onto the seat next to her.  
"Hi," she replied turning to face him.  
"What time does your shift finish?" He asked.  
"Five, you?" She responded.  
"Six," he answered. "Well," he started nervously while reaching into his pocket.  
"Yeah," she said gesturing for him to continue.  
"Well seeing as you finish an hour earlier, you can let yourself into my caravan if you want," he said, trying to sound casual while handing over the key. "It's my spare so you may as well keep it."  
"Sure thanks," she replied taking the key and holding it in her palm.  
_What is going on?_ She thought.

_This was too serious, too formal, too much for her. It was going to fast and she had to get out, she had to leave, she needed space._ She sensed that Luc was far more along in their relationship then she was. That key, that tiny silver key was scaring the hell out of her and it made her want to run away there and then. So instead of saying anything else she just smiled at Luc before turning around to do some more work.

At about ten seconds to five Eddi had finished her all of her work and looked up from her to see the time. Sighing she got up and said goodbye Sasha, who knew nothing of what was happening other than being pushed for information about Luc and Eddi by Chrissie earlier that day. Luc was nowhere to be seen and she decided not to find him as it would be too hard, so she went to the locker room to get changed. She had emailed Hanssen earlier when Luc was dealing with a patient and so she was free to go immediately after her shift. Lacing up her turquoise converses, she thought about staying. _No she had to go, she had to start a new chapter and leave Holby. _She didn't want to leave Luc and perhaps deep down she was starting to fall in love with Luc, and that was what scared her most. That was the real reason she had to leave, get a fresh start and get over Luc. Putting on her black leather jacket and swinging her satchel onto her shoulder she walked out the locker room and took a long look at AAU before quickly turning round and walking out of Holby for the last time ever.

By the time the clock on AAU struck 6, Luc was more than ready to leave and practically ran out of AAU towards the locker room. He couldn't think of anything better than spending an evening with Eddi, perhaps going out somewhere like the previous evening or just staying in and watching something on his small TV. As he walked into the locker room he noticed that his locker had been opened as it hadn't been shut properly, opening it up he saw his spare key stuck to the door. _What is my key doing here?_ He thought as he removed it from the door. Looking up on his top shelf to see if there was anything else the found two more objects. Her hospital pass and the word "sorry" written on a small piece of paper. Luc dropped his spare key that he had in his palm and sunk down onto the bench, trying to digest what was going on. _She had left, she had left him. She was gone forever. _He put his head in his hands, still trying to process that he would never see her again and wondering why she left. He didn't want to think about it, that would make it seem real. Going onto autopilot mode he slowly got changed and grabbed his bag and everything she left behind, including the key on the floor. Once he was done he walked out of the room and headed for his caravan, the only place that was truly his. However once he entered his caravan, using the key he gave her as it was already in his hand, he realised he couldn't stay there as there were remnants of her. The air in it smelled of her perfume, some of her hair clips were left on his counter and just looking at the bed reminded him of how she had lay with him that morning. Luc dropped everything he had been holding and quickly walked out of the caravan before he crumbled completely. So he walked, just walked for a good hour before he ended up just by the house. He pressed the bell and waited for someone to answer the door. It was both of them who answered with their arms wrapped each other which wasn't helping. Their smiles quickly dropped when they saw the state that Luc was in.  
"What's wrong?" Sasha asked.  
"I don't want to talk about it, please without asking questions will you let me sleep on your sofa tonight?" Luc said shakily.  
"Of course, come in," Chrissie replied softly, for once sensing to not pry into something that wasn't her business.  
He stepped inside and walked straight into their living room before turning out the lights and lying on the sofa. But sleep did not come to him, he just lay there trying but failing not to think about it.  
In the kitchen Chrissie and Sasha were discussing Luc's sudden arrival when Sasha's iPad flashed at him.  
"Oh it's an email from Hanssen," he said, wondering what it was about.

"Dear AAU staff," Sasha read out loud.  
"I am writing to inform you that Nurse McKee has chosen to depart from being a member of staff at Holby City Hospital. Her temporary contract came to an end today and she has chosen not to renew it despite my protests. There will be interviews for new nursing staff next week but until then an agency nurse will be sent in.  
Regards,  
Henrik Hanssen."

"Wow," Chrissie breathed, lost for words. "This has hit him pretty hard," gesturing towards Luc. They both stared through the door to the living room where they saw Luc tossing and turning.  
"I didn't even know that her contract was only temporary," remarked Sasha.  
"Judging by him I imagine she didn't tell him about her leaving," said Chrissie.  
"How could you guess that?" Sasha questioned.  
"Because from what I saw this morning, it looked like it was the start of something new not the beginning of the end," she said quietly.  
Luc overheard the whole conversation despite the fact that they were talking quite quietly. _Chrissie's words have never been more apt._ He thought. _Today, this morning, Eddi and I in my bed, it was the beginning of the end, it was all the beginning of the end of everything._

**Thanks for reading! I hope you all like it and I hope I managed to capture the characters well. Please let me know what you think and I'm sorry this is only a one shot**


End file.
